Day 26: Reflexive and Reflective.

Today was a great day, even with the lack of sleep. I did wake up at 4:30 with my face stuck to my pillow in a mix of beard and drool. There must have been some good sleepin' going on! I got up and had my first breakfast of fruit and Amish made carrot cake. There is one slice left for tomorrow. It was all I could do to not eat it in one day.

When I was a kid I remember my mom making me a carrot cake for my birthday and having to make another cake for the other kids because I was the only one who liked carrot cake. I still do!

Rode the bike down to Dwain's for the last time this session because tomorrow he picks me up and we go back to his place with all of my stuff. Then we load the car with tools and equipment and head off to Holidaysburg, PA, where we'll do dulcimer stuff with a collector there. This could be a really good connection for me, so I hope all goes well. Plus Val is meeting us there on Suturday! I've not seen her for nearly a month, and I cannot wait to cuddle with her.

Dwain and I started with (my second) breakfast, which consisted of cereal, flax seed, lots of fresh fruit, yogurt, and honey. It is really kind of like eating ice cream! We talked about art and craft and what is the difference between the two. Dwain has a nice definition of both, where one compliments the other. But neither of us really had a clear-cut definition of either word. I've been struggling with this very challenge since grad school, where I was in the Ivory Tower of Art School making folk art like latch-hook rugs. So I've always wanted to be a folk artist grounded in my Cracker tradition but able to bounce around in the "high art" world. Of course it is only high to those who think they are in it or critics or collectors of it, but my work has always danced back and forth between the two traditions. So now with my dulcimer making I will be able to do so because I will be making a traditional folk instrument with the highest craftsmanship I can muster. Plus, I'm sure I'll push the aesthetics of whatever I do.

So we used a lot of words to come up with no definition, but as is usually the case with Dwain, it is nice just to kick words around until we have the world's problems solved and a utopia achieved.

And then we get to work!

We got back on the bookmatching, but our results are still inconsistent and some of the boards are staying together while others aren't. Dwain checked my technique again today, and my work is just fine. We used a different glue, fish glue, so we'll see what happens.

I made three blanks for our trip tomorrow. I'm not exactly sure who gets them, but someone does. Dwain and I had a great interaction while I was making them because Dwain realized an important aspect of the way I learn, which is that I do much better if I've experienced a thing and then talk about the more abstract stuff. The stuff in this case is the what and the when of using a scraper.

I'm getting a lot of practice using planes, and I'm using cabinet scrapers with some good effects. But I've not used a large variety of the small scrapers yet to understand how to make them because I cannot envision where the scraper works best. I've used a flexible scraper to clean out the decorative scroll underneath the pegbox, but that is really it.

There is no doubt that I am a bodily kinesthetic learner who needs to be grounded in the exercise and practice of a thing to get it to stick.

Once I finished those I got back on my pegblock, and it is nearly complete. There is still some cleanup to do, but the carving is done. I'm really pleased with my work, and really feel like I'm in my element. I have good shop practices, and I'm learning a lot from Dwain about shops, carving, dulcimer making, life, love, and so much more. Plus, I'm having fun doing this, and that always makes work easier.

Then I got to pick the sides and tailblock for my machine. It is a bit of a process because I had to match the colors and try to match the grain. Plus it was really challenging because when we started doing this it was snack time and all of the wood looked like bacon. So we had a nice snack of a cheese sandwich, fresh peppers, half an avocado, and some tea to wash it down. I forgot to take a picture because I was so hungry I just started eating.

We had another nice and meaningful chat about the first session, which is coming to an end. The only thing in which I am disappointed is that I didn't finish my first instrument. And I'm only disappointed because I expected to. When I've completed the four sessions I will have four machines, so I'm content with that knowledge. Everything else has been so much better than I imagined. I knew it was going to be great and I knew I would throw myself into what Val and me have sacrificed so much for me to do. So the benefits like getting a wonderful place to stay and fed at least two meals a day and a bicycle with which to travel around and, and, and only serve to make me so sure I'm in the right place doing the right thing!

I'm looking forward to the next sessions!